Literary Bio

Fran Moreland Johns is the author most recently of Perilous Times: An inside look at abortion before – and after – Roe v Wade (YBK Publishers.) An earlier book is Dying Unafraid (Synergistic Press), a nonfiction book telling of people who did just that. Inspired by her personal experiences, Dying Unafraid led to other published work on end-of-life issues – including contributions to Beliefnet.com beginning with its initial issue – and activism in that field that included offices on the board of Compassion & Choices of N.CA and the San Francisco Bay Area Network for End of Life Care. Similarly, publication of Perilous Times led to frequent talks, articles and activism on reproductive justice.

Johns has also authored essays, articles, columns and short stories published since the 1950s.

Until its purchase by Forbes in August, 2010, Johns wrote a paid blog, Boomers & Beyond, for news aggregate Web site True/Slant; she currently blogs on Huffington Post at Fran-Moreland-Johns.

A graduate of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College and long-time newspaper and magazine writer, Johns later earned her MFA in Short Fiction from the University of San Francisco and began publishing short stories, including prize-winning stories in Literal Latte and the Cape Fear Mystery Festival’s 2006 contest and chapbook. Her fiction and nonfiction works have appeared in USA Today, Grit, Parenting, online sites and elsewhere; an autobiographical feature was published in the February, 2011 issue of More Magazine. She is the author of several nonfiction books, including the biographical memoir Never In Doubt, and recipient of a California Senior Leaders award.

Johns is currently working on new stories, including one recently published in The Tishman Review. Others are under consideration by a number of literary magazines. She is working to publish a group of stories (two can be viewed on this site under the Stories tab) in a themed collection.

A native of Virginia who spent much of her adult life in Atlanta, Johns now lives in San Francisco where she is also active in interfaith and arts causes. She is the mother of three and grandmother of five, and lives in San Francisco with her husband, writer Bud Johns.

This site still often features comments on causes (I’ve not given up on reproductive justice, end-of-life choice or interfaith understanding) but now ranges farther afield into miscellaneous topics I hope you’ll find interesting. I’ll welcome your comments. Thanks for dropping by.